Press Releases

Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) today announced that Sheboygan County Planning has been awarded a $10,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) grant by the Great Lakes Commission. Sheboygan County Planning’s project will install the first Minnesota sand/iron filter bed. Agricultural drainage traveling through the subsurface drain tile system would be intercepted prior to discharging at a tile outlet on the north side of Elkart Lake, which is the largest kettle moraine lake in Sheboygan County.

“Sheboygan County Planning deserves this significant recognition of its important work to protect the health of our waterways and communities,” said Grothman. “This grant also highlights the need to continue funding the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to continue protecting the Great Lakes, which are a vital economic and environmental asset for our district,”

“I’d like to congratulate Sheboygan County Planning for being awarded this grant in support of their work protecting the health and sustainability of our Great Lakes,” said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission. “This project demonstrates the power of the GLRI to generate critical economic and environmental improvements for communities throughout the region. Thank you to Rep. Grothman for their continued support of this important initiative.”

Background

Every year, tons of polluting phosphorus and sediments enter the Great Lakes Basin, causing massive economic and environmental losses and damages and contributing to the formation of Harmful Algal Blooms and dead zones.  The Great Lakes Commission manages the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program which strategically addresses this problem with a unique, targeted grass roots approach which awards grants to nonfederal agencies and nonprofit organizations in priority watersheds throughout the region.

This year, 18 projects totaling over $1.6 million were funded by the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program to install on-the-land practices to reduce phosphorus runoff and sedimentation into the Great Lakes.

Funding for this program is provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative under a cooperative agreement between the Great Lakes Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman is serving his second term representing Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.